H
Harry Dope
Guest
Tammany Hil
Campaign Finance: Some of the $500 million in secrets behind the Clinton
Foundation and its ties to Hillary's presidential campaign are now revealed.
The charity seems to be a clearing house for buying political favors.
The hundreds of thousands of dollars Hillary took in campaign contributions
from Washington lobbyists provoked a chorus of boos when she appeared at the
Daily Kos' summer gathering of liberal bloggers in Chicago.
But those direct donations, under the watchful eye of the Federal Election
Commission, are mere chicken feed. The now over $500-million-rich Clinton
Foundation is where the real action is.
The New York Times, which has discovered the identity of 97 donors who
together gave or pledged $69 million early on, reports some of the
million-dollar donors sought changes in policies and two of them were under
Justice Department probes.
With the presidential election approaching, Clinton Foundation donations
skyrocketed last year to $135 million, 70% more than the year before, with
two-thirds of the booty from only 11 donors.
So much for Bill and Hil's populist image.
The former president steadfastly refused to reveal the donors' identities -
including one super-rich donor giving $31.3 million.
We can certainly now see why. The $31-million-dollar man turned out to be
Canadian mining mogul and founder of Lionsgate Entertainment (distributor of
Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11") Frank Giustra, who plans to give another
$100 million, plus half his future earnings.
Foreign contributions to presidential campaigns are illegal, but foreigners
such as Giustra can anonymously give as much as they like to presidential
foundations. So can the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a United
Arab Emirates foundation, and the governments of Kuwait and Qatar, all of
whom reportedly gave undisclosed amounts to the Clinton Foundation.
That should make for interesting Mideast policy under Hillary.
Here at home, Anheuser-Busch gave $1 million after the Clinton
administration's Federal Trade Commission agreed not to regulate beer, wine
and liquor ads.
Chicago bankruptcy lawyer William A. Brandt Jr. pledged $1 million in 1999
as the Justice Department investigated whether he lied about using a
big-money fundraiser for Clinton's 1996 re-election to lobby a top
bankruptcy official. Later that year, Clinton's Justice Department cleared
Brandt, who has since given big to Hil-lary's campaign.
When Loral Space and Communications' then-chairman, Bernard Schwartz, agreed
to give $1 million in 2000, the firm was being investigated over whether it
gave satellite technology to China. Under the Bush administration, Loral
agreed to a $14 million fine.
Other million-dollar contributors got themselves deals on things like
Medicare reimbursements for hospitals in Puerto Rico and special treatment
on cell phone licenses from the Federal Communications Commission. One is an
Iranian-born aviation executive who provided military equipment to Tehran
during Iran-Contra.
Then there's the notorious income tax fugitive Marc Rich, pardoned by Bill
after his ex-wife, Denise, gave $450,000 to the Clinton Library.
Hillary's campaign chairman and former Democratic National Committee head
Terry McAuliffe, plus other top campaign officials, have worked or still do
work for the Clinton Foundation.
New York City's infamous Tammany Hall Democratic Party machine took bribes
for favors while engaging in "foundation"-like activities such as financing
hospitals and museums to cover up the corruption. Hillary Clinton has a lot
of convincing to do to prove this isn't a similar racket.
--
Quote Of The Week
"The Clintons Are A Terminally Unethical And Vulgar Couple, And They?ve
Betrayed Everyone Who Has Ever Believed In Them." - Bob Herbert, Columnist
NY Times Clinton
Campaign Finance: Some of the $500 million in secrets behind the Clinton
Foundation and its ties to Hillary's presidential campaign are now revealed.
The charity seems to be a clearing house for buying political favors.
The hundreds of thousands of dollars Hillary took in campaign contributions
from Washington lobbyists provoked a chorus of boos when she appeared at the
Daily Kos' summer gathering of liberal bloggers in Chicago.
But those direct donations, under the watchful eye of the Federal Election
Commission, are mere chicken feed. The now over $500-million-rich Clinton
Foundation is where the real action is.
The New York Times, which has discovered the identity of 97 donors who
together gave or pledged $69 million early on, reports some of the
million-dollar donors sought changes in policies and two of them were under
Justice Department probes.
With the presidential election approaching, Clinton Foundation donations
skyrocketed last year to $135 million, 70% more than the year before, with
two-thirds of the booty from only 11 donors.
So much for Bill and Hil's populist image.
The former president steadfastly refused to reveal the donors' identities -
including one super-rich donor giving $31.3 million.
We can certainly now see why. The $31-million-dollar man turned out to be
Canadian mining mogul and founder of Lionsgate Entertainment (distributor of
Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11") Frank Giustra, who plans to give another
$100 million, plus half his future earnings.
Foreign contributions to presidential campaigns are illegal, but foreigners
such as Giustra can anonymously give as much as they like to presidential
foundations. So can the Saudi royal family, the king of Morocco, a United
Arab Emirates foundation, and the governments of Kuwait and Qatar, all of
whom reportedly gave undisclosed amounts to the Clinton Foundation.
That should make for interesting Mideast policy under Hillary.
Here at home, Anheuser-Busch gave $1 million after the Clinton
administration's Federal Trade Commission agreed not to regulate beer, wine
and liquor ads.
Chicago bankruptcy lawyer William A. Brandt Jr. pledged $1 million in 1999
as the Justice Department investigated whether he lied about using a
big-money fundraiser for Clinton's 1996 re-election to lobby a top
bankruptcy official. Later that year, Clinton's Justice Department cleared
Brandt, who has since given big to Hil-lary's campaign.
When Loral Space and Communications' then-chairman, Bernard Schwartz, agreed
to give $1 million in 2000, the firm was being investigated over whether it
gave satellite technology to China. Under the Bush administration, Loral
agreed to a $14 million fine.
Other million-dollar contributors got themselves deals on things like
Medicare reimbursements for hospitals in Puerto Rico and special treatment
on cell phone licenses from the Federal Communications Commission. One is an
Iranian-born aviation executive who provided military equipment to Tehran
during Iran-Contra.
Then there's the notorious income tax fugitive Marc Rich, pardoned by Bill
after his ex-wife, Denise, gave $450,000 to the Clinton Library.
Hillary's campaign chairman and former Democratic National Committee head
Terry McAuliffe, plus other top campaign officials, have worked or still do
work for the Clinton Foundation.
New York City's infamous Tammany Hall Democratic Party machine took bribes
for favors while engaging in "foundation"-like activities such as financing
hospitals and museums to cover up the corruption. Hillary Clinton has a lot
of convincing to do to prove this isn't a similar racket.
--
Quote Of The Week
"The Clintons Are A Terminally Unethical And Vulgar Couple, And They?ve
Betrayed Everyone Who Has Ever Believed In Them." - Bob Herbert, Columnist
NY Times Clinton
